A few years ago I was sitting at a $30-$60 hold'em table when someone came down from the mezzanine, where he was playing $80-$160 hold'em. He excitedly told his friend who was playing in my game that he had to get on the $80-$160 list, because there was a player in the game who was playing terribly. The friend asked who it was, and he pointed to a man who has had more success in the $80-$160 game over the last few years than anyone else at Bellagio. So, they both went to take advantage of this "weak player."
The fact is that the most successful middle-limit (and higher) players play a style that is unfamiliar to the average poker player. These experts play and frequently raise with hands that the average player would not consider reasonable, make calls when others might raise, yet still go considerable stretches without playing at all. This, of course, confuses the average player, and makes him believe that the expert is making all sorts of errors.
Why do they play like this? Don't they read the books? Don't they realize what the "correct" plays are?
Sure they do. They got to where they are because they learned to play "properly" well enough to beat the players who did not have the time or temperament to play equally well. They moved up in limits, as so many have, by pyramiding their winnings to higher-stakes games.
Eventually, they noticed that their results were not as good, because their opponents not only played decently, but also were observant enough to determine that they played a somewhat predictable style. Opponents reacted to the experts' tight style by giving them less action when holding good hands, and little if any action when holding marginal ones. As this action was a principal source of their winnings, the experts made less money than anticipated.
Some players evolved a style called "The Illusion of Action," in which they made enough plays that looked like action (while generally still having positive expectation) that they got real action from opponents when they had the best of it. At the same time, more traditional players believed that they were observing loose players with a losing style.
In my new book,
Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategy, available at www.CardPlayer.com, I explore this Illusion of Action playing style, and discuss in depth why, when, and against whom to attempt such plays. Here is an example hand from the book:
An Illusion of Action Hand: Using this method, I held the Q
9
in the cutoff. A tight, losing, frustrated player open-raised on my right. He seemed to be a good candidate for a play because he appeared to be impatient to play a hand, but sufficiently defeated that he would not make any fancy plays.
I three-bet to gain position (buy the button), make the blinds fold (thus leaving extra money in the pot), and win the battle of aggression. I did not think I had the best hand, but in this situation, I believed I could wrestle the pot away from my opponent often enough to show a good profit. And if not, I would sow seeds of doubt if I had occasion to show down a hand like Q-9 that I had three-bet.
On the flop of J
6
3
, he checked and I bet. He called, which bothered me a bit, as I was hoping to win it right there. The turn was the 9
, so at least I now had something. Again, he checked, I bet, and he called. He should have given up on A-K and A-Q by then, so I had to worry about a hand like K-J, 10-10, or even Q-Q. He also could have 7-7 and be hoping I had A-K.
The river was the 2
, and he checked again. I like to bet the river, but I thought there were more hands that would beat me than hands I could beat, and I did not want to get check-raised. I checked. He showed down K-Q, so my pair of nines won.
Analysis: What did I accomplish?
• I won the pot.
• I showed my opponents that I three-bet with Q-9. That should get me some extra play when I three-bet with premium hands later in the session.
• I looked like a foolish player because the table saw my weak three-bet. Also, it looked like I got lucky because I hit my kicker, whereas, in reality, I was going to win that pot after the flop almost all the time, whether I hit my 9 or not. If I had missed on the turn and river, I was going to bet, and he would have folded K-Q. In fact, he would not have called the turn if the 9 had not given him a gutshot.
After establishing a somewhat wild image, I had to realize that it was best if I slowed down and played my more normal game. It would be unwise to continue to display such aggression after having shown that I was capable of it. For that reason, it may have been better to bet the river, since I would have won the pot with no showdown and could have made the play again in the near future. And if I ever had to show down a weak hand, I could then back off and gain a looser image. But, it is far better to win the money now than to lose and establish an image.
Of course, I could not use that play again for quite a while with those players. But, the play left my opponents confused and afraid, which increased both my subsequent action and their errors.
Conclusion: Some professionals make extra money by making plays to enhance their image as loose players while usually playing fairly tightly. Of course, by playing like this, they also increase their volatility considerably, both winning and losing more per hand and per session.
Remember the following if you make plays like this:
1. Make them sparingly and only under what you have determined to be the right circumstances.
2. Understand that you may lose a considerable amount of money on a hand that anyone else would have folded.
3. Maintain constant awareness of your table image, so that you can interpret your opponents' actions correctly.
4. Prepare to have larger swings, which may make it difficult to continue this style if you are loss-averse or have a small bankroll for the limit you play.
Barry Tanenbaum is the author of Advanced Limit Hold'em Strategy, and collaborator on Limit Hold'em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies, both available at www.CardPlayer.com. Barry offers private lessons tailored to the individual student. Please see his website, www.barrytanenbaum.com, or write to him at [email protected].
